TikTok wants you to turn your phone sideways with new ‘horizontal’ mode

TikTok wants users to turn their phone on its side.

The company is testing a horizontal mode that will allow people to watch landscape videos in full screen, it has confirmed.

Only some users will initially get access to the test feature, according to TechCrunch, which first reported the trial. Those people with it will see a new “full screen” button appear when they are watching square or rectangular videos in their feed.

Pressing it will bring up the new mode, which rotates the video around so that it can take advantage of the extra space and show in full screen.

TikTok is known for its short, digestible clips, but has already been trying to encourage people to post longer, more involved videos. Months ago, the company rolled out the option to upload videos up to 10 minutes long, in what appeared to be an attempt to woo creators who were making videos on YouTube.

YouTube itself has been looking to take on TikTok, too, with its “Shorts” offering. Those videos are intended to be watched in portrait mode, are much shorter, and can be watched by flicking through an algorithmic feed – all of which are credit with TikTok’s rise.

Until now, however, TikTok has had no way of offering the kind of landscape and cinematic videos that YouTube has supported. While some users have uploaded such videos already rotated, they have had to include a message telling users to rotate their phones if they want to see it in the right orientation.

Even when using the test, users will have to press to have the video flip and then rotate the screen. On other apps, including YouTube, users need only to flip their phones to the side and the video will change accordingly.

It is unclear whether TikTok will roll the test out more broadly, and if it will ever arrive as a full feature.